Shawna Rothgeb-Bird Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

What Elizabeth Taught Me About Spec Ed

(This is a story about a student I had several years ago. Her name wasn’t actually Elizabeth. Teaching her taught me a lot about Spec Ed – how to tackle problems in steps, how to work with students to find what works for them individually, and above all else, how incredible it feels to know you really helped someone learn how to be successful.)

I heard about Elizabeth before my job even started. She was one of those students. If you haven’t had one yet, you will: the kids whose reputations precede them. The “hard” kids.

Let’s backtrack, shall we?

Fresh out of my teacher education program, I had just accepted a position teaching a full-day kindergarten program at a private child care centre. At that time, the OT lists for my board (OCDSB) weren’t open, so in order to pay the bills and get some money for AQs in the hopes of one day getting into the board, I took this job.

Because this was a child care centre, my class was small: 10 students total, with 2 more transitioning in partway through the year. This was starting to seem like a pretty easy assignment… until we got to Elizabeth.

“Oh, she’s going to give you a run for your money.”

“She’s vicious.”

“Good luck with her, she’s a nasty one.”

Those were all things people actually said to me about this child. A five year old. I have something of a stubborn streak in me, so right then and there I decided I was going to make it my goal to change Elizabeth’s experience at school.

Elizabeth was a bright, articulate girl who loved story time more than anything, needed you to know her opinion on something, and readily shared facts about things like the moon because she was always reading books and learning new things. She loved art, and she really loved success.

In the classroom, however, Elizabeth seemed to act out. It didn’t take long for me to see what other teachers had warned me about: she hit, she threw things, she had a hard time working with her peers, she couldn’t sit through circle without making at least one other student miserable, and she would have meltdowns during seatwork time.

Other teachers had tried positive and negative reinforcement strategies with her, their success limited. Her parents seemed defeated and were obviously reticent to even ask how her day had gone when they picked her up at the end of the day. I couldn’t figure this kid out: she really enjoyed learning, she really enjoyed arriving at school every day, and she loved her peers, so where was her behaviour coming from?

So I asked her. No one had ever asked her why she did these things. After a particularly trying circle time, I took her aside and calmly asked her why she had trouble sitting through circle time without rolling on the floor, taking out books from the shelves, or touching everyone and everything around her.

And at the tender age of five, she said, “Sitting still hurts.” Her tone was serious. She was distressed. “When I sit still for too long it hurts so I move around, but then I hit people and they get mad.”

It was clear that she felt compelled to move, and that asking her to stop moving was having a detrimental effect on her ability to engage with the class. Together, we discussed some strategies to help her through circle time. As a starting point, we tried fidget toys; she was partial to two bits of LEGO which had been put together with a hinge, so she could move the pieces back and forth while she sat and listened. Most of the time, just having that small toy was enough to keep her physical body occupied while she focused mentally on circle time. Some days she needed more than that, and in those times, we had an arrangement where she could get up and walk around the classroom as long as she didn’t play with anything and was still participating.

So that’s what she did. I sat with the rest of the class, going through our daily calendar work, reading stories, singing songs… and she did everything we did, she was just walking around while she did it. When she had something to contribute, she came to the edge of the carpet and raised her hand just like her peers. She waited to be called on. And when she felt she needed to get up and move again, she would show me a peace sign with her hand, I would nod, and off she would go.

These two small strategies completely changed her experience at circle time. After a month of success, we decided together that we would start tackling seat work next. It turned out that seat work was just as simple to “fix”: she just needed breaks where she could get up and move. She would work on her printing/reading for five minutes, go to a centre for a few minutes, come back to her seat work for another five minutes, go back to centres, etc. Some days she was able to get her seat work done all in one shot, other days she needed to break it up repeatedly, but she always finished it. I used a small timer (which I taught her how to operate) so that she could manage this herself.

There were other things I did to help, of course; I tracked her behaviour relentlessly to see what was and wasn’t working, I tried other strategies like an exercise ball to sit on, I worked with her parents to maintain consistent language and discipline between school and home. But the circle time and seat work strategies were really the key.

As Elizabeth’s behaviour in class improved, her relationships with her peers also improved dramatically. Because she wasn’t upsetting them at circle time any more, they were more keen to play with her and call her to join them at centres. Their forgiveness of her past behaviour was total and almost immediate. Even though they had known her for years and had nearly all been hit, pushed, bit, or yelled at by her, they were willing to set that aside and give her another chance.

By our 100th Day Celebration, I wasn’t tracking her behaviour any more because there wasn’t any need. By the end of the school year, all of our strategies were so second nature that I wasn’t even aware of them any more.

I saw her once a few years later when I was working as a daily OT at her elementary school. I said hello, we shared a smile, and off she went with her friends. She seemed to be doing well!

So, what’s the point of all this? I mean, it’s a nice story, sure, and we probably all have a student or ten like this…

1) Identification isn’t everything. Because this was the private system, I didn’t have any specialists to call on and I couldn’t refer her for any assessments to determine whether or not she had an official diagnosis. I could have suggested that her parents get her tested privately, but I was too new to feel that it was my place to make any comments like that. The thing is, even without being “identified” as Spec Ed, I was able to implement several accommodations which ended up helping her immensely. I didn’t need a legal document telling me that she needed to break work into chunks; I just went for it.

Now, as a public school teacher, I do the same thing: from the first day, I put strategies into place based on my students’ needs, even if they don’t have an IEP. If I think it’s going to help, I do it. I still flag students of concern, don’t get me wrong – but I don’t sit around waiting for those flagged students to actually be assessed. There is a LOT you can do while waiting for your concerns to be addressed.

 

2) Class size is important. I was teaching a full day kindergarten class with ten students. I was managing several other challenges in that class, but because I only had ten students, I was able to give each of my students a significant portion of my time and energy. It was easy to track behaviour and implement strategies because I only had ten students. I can’t imagine trying to identify, address, and follow up on students of concern in a full day kindergarten classroom in our public boards because they have two or three times as many students as I had. This is part of why we are fighting for smaller class sizes in Ontario.

 

3) Your students can tell you a lot about their needs. We spend a lot of time drawing on our own past experiences, training, and psychology in order to come up with strategies to help our Spec Ed students, but sometimes we forget that sometimes the best source of inspiration is the student him- or herself. I have made it a point, ever since teaching Elizabeth, to work with all of my students (not just the ones with IEPs) and have them identify their strengths and needs. I make them advocate for themselves: if they need to sit closer to the board, or not near their friends, or have a seat totally away from their peers during lessons, then they tell me that and I make it happen. The results have been astonishing and have dramatically reduced the amount of behavioural problems I deal with on a day to day basis.

 

Make them take ownership of their learning needs. You won’t regret it, I promise. 🙂

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt First Week Reflections, General, Learning About Your Students

Getting Started With Music

Hi everyone! My name is Tammy Axt (formerly Tammy Gallant) and I am a music teacher for students in grade 3, 4 and 5 in the Peel District School Board. This is my fifth year as a music teacher and I hope to be able to assist those new to the planning time role in schools across Ontario. My school is a suburban school about 30 minutes outside of Toronto with a very high ELL population. In addition to music, I also have planning time coverage in a contained Autism Spectrum Disorder class.

At the end of June last year, one of my students was very surprised to learn that my family lives in PEI. I realized when she mentioned that fact, that I don’t talk or mention things about myself very often. We are so busy in my music class creating or practicing that I rarely share things that happen in my life. So I decided this year to start off by doing a music activity where both the students and I share a little about ourselves.

To share the things I did during my summer, I created a “Prezi”. Prezi is a great online program for preparing presentations that are a little bit more exciting than PowerPoint. I made slides about learning to ride a motorcycle, getting married and hanging out with my nephews. All the things that I love and that made my summer so great. You can see the Prezi I created at https://prezi.com/rl-hlpfivx5q/my-summer-vacation/. While completing the prezi, I made sure to include things that I did that could have clear and obvious sound effects.

After I presented the Prezi to my students, I gave them an opportunity to talk with an elbow partner about some sound effects that go with some of the activities that I did over the summer. I encouraged the partnerships to make the sound effects with their body or their mouth. I showed the Prezi again and we added all sorts of crazy sound effects to the slides.

After hearing about my summer, the students chose one thing they did over the summer and created a sound effect that went along with their activity. Listening to all of their sharing, it gave me some really great insights into my student’s lives. Some of them come from BIG noisy families, some had great tragedy over the summer and some of them love sports. All of this information will help me in planning our upcoming lessons and helping them all be successful this year!

Tisha Nelson Before School Starts, Building Inclusion, First Week Reflections, General, Learning About Your Students, Start of the year, Student Ownership, Wellness

The First 20 Days of School – Connecting with Students is a Great Place to Start

Teaching is always new! With a new group of students, fresh reflections on practice and the opportunity to start from scratch, as it were, the start of the school year provides teachers and students alike the opportunity to create new beginnings every year. Knowing this, what might some important considerations be to make it a great start? Chapter One of The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning: Practical Ideas and Resources for Beginning Teachers highlights four important themes for success: connecting with students, passion for teaching, attributes-based approach and importance of school culture. I would like to focus this reflection on the importance of connecting with students within the first 20 days of school as a means to establish an authentic relationship with students that fosters trust and inspires a willingness to take risks within a safe learning environment.

Renowned poet and author Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This profound sentiment holds true for teachers and their relationship with students in that when students feel respected, safe and cared for, the experience of learning is enriched. The following are five practical ways for teachers to build authentic connections with their students at the start of the school year:

1. Be authentic. When teachers model what it means to be an authentic learner – mistakes and all, students are then encouraged to take risks without fear of reprisal. Let your model of authentic learning influence students to do the same. This form of transparency sets the tone for fostering meaningful connections between teachers and students.

2. Ask students about their needs and listen. Validate student voice by positioning them as the experts on themselves. Invite students to share their learning needs and the things that you could do as their teachers that would support their success and commit to doing them. Conducting multiple intelligence and attitudes and dispositions surveys are great ways to begin the dialogue for students to articulate how you can support their learning and their level of self-efficacy.

3. Explore student interests. As teachers we all need to cover the curriculum but viewing the curriculum as a launching pad as opposed to a landing pad can invite student’s interests to take centre stage in the teaching and learning process. Ask students about their interests and find creative ways to invite further inquiry into them while exploring the curriculum at the same time.

4. Learn the students. In addition to the information that can be found in student records (i.e. OSRs), commit to learning more about your students in meaningful ways. Pronouncing student names correctly is important way to let students know that they are valued. Challenge yourself to learn at least five non-school related facts about each of your students. This can help to build a positive relationship and validate their experiences outside of the domain of the classroom. Finally, being aware of students personalities (i.e. introverts, extroverts, etc.) will inform how to relate to them as well as setting the conditions of the classroom experience.

5. Invite to student voice by fostering a reciprocal relationship with your students. Nurturing a collaborative learning environment for students does not merely mean giving students the opportunity to collaborate with each other, but it also means positioning students as collaborators with you. Partner with your students to design the learning space and learning opportunities. This fosters student ownership in the teaching and learning experience and empowers students to be meaningful contributors to the class. When you invite their voice in classroom decisions, ensure that it is validated by action on your part. Leveraging positional power in the classroom creates space for a more meaningful connection between students and teacher.

As teachers we are in the business of supporting students success. Fostering meaningful connections with students goes along way in promoting both student achievement and well-being. When students know that their teachers authentically care about them, their willingness to learn will support their ability to do well. Starting the school year with students in mind will set you on a solid foundation for building upward. Make it a great start.

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education

More Than A Student

This past several months have been very challenging as it seems we have plateaued and are not progressing as I would expect us to at this time of the year. Thanks to a young girl in my class, I was reminded just how important it is to remember that I work with children and not adults.

Every morning the bell rings and I expect all of us to move into high gear in order to accomplish the day’s agenda. I am ready to give my absolute best effort (proverbial 125%) and have developed the expectation in the class that each person’s part is to put forth their best effort. Sometimes I can get lost in the tidal wave of curriculum expectations and forget that each and every day my students go home to a life that I often know little about. They come to school with many situations that can either contribute or detract from their success. I was reminded of just how important it is to take the time to check in with my class on a daily basis. This past month one of my students was going through some horrific custodial scenarios and yet she continued to come to school and attempted to live the classroom standards. She was not making the gains she had set and therefore put more pressure on herself, which ended up creating results that were not helpful from either a personal or academic standpoint.

My primary role at that time should not have been academics and curriculum accomplishment but rather meeting her social/emotional needs. Which in turn would have helped her where she needed it most.

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Learning About Your Students, Student Ownership

Trust and Verify

This is a fantastic new phrase I came upon. I have been experimenting with it in my class over the last two months. As I work with my special needs students I am always looking for new ways to say the same message. A key component that I strive to accomplish in my classroom is the concept of trust. That entails students trusting adults, adults trusting students, and students trusting students. TRUST is a pillar of an effective classroom community.

This phrase puts the trust factor as automatic and you know the verification will follow. That is a paradigm shift for many people. But what I have found from my student conversations is that the fact that I automatically trust them is in itself a breakthrough for their confidence and self esteem.

The way that I am using it is to show them that I believe in them, trust them to do what is right or what they were asked to do. Their role (critical piece) is to show me that my decision was the correct one. I guess a simple way to explain it is to see this as an attribute based approach in that all children are innately good and capable of being trusted. It is proving to have a self-fulfilling affect on my students. As a young boy in my class put it, “You are right Mr. B., I can be trusted”.

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Challenging Topics, Learning About Your Students

Accountable Talk

Students love to talk and some students love to talk more than others. That isn’t a bad thing! Talking is and should be an essential component of every classroom. The key is to help students understand the different types of talk that will take place at school. I teach my students the term ‘on task talk’. That means that if it is math we are working on, then it is math we are talking about or if it is science then scientific conversations are taking place in my room. This creates a win-win situation as humans are social beings and talking is a huge part of both the socialization and learning process. This is part of the routines and expectations that are established at the beginning of your year.

A second type of talk is question and answering or as I phrase it ‘inquiry talk’. This is different in that there is a key person who is explaining or justifying their solution or work to a group of peers. The students asking the questions need to be taught what thinking questions are, how to create them and what respectful dialogue looks and sound like. The person receiving the questions needs to understand that the questions are not meant to be negative but rather to evoke thoughts and express opinions.

The final type of talk in the classroom is social talk. This is just friend-to-friend conversations that take place. I will often interject these sessions as transitions in the room. For example we have just wrapped up our writing and I will tell my students to take a two-minute social break. During that time they can get up and move or talk with a friend or friends.

The key is to help students develop an understanding of what each type of talk is as well as when and how to use it. This is specific to each teacher and their style of teaching. Embrace the power of talk in your classroom

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Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Learning About Your Students, Making a Difference Through Education, Wellness

Wellness in the Classroom

Wellness is an important focus for our grade 6/7 classroom and is also a hot topic school and board wide. It encompasses so much of what we do and who we are that it can be difficult to create a specific lesson for “wellness.” In The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning book, it states, “Getting to know your students is a big part of your success as a teacher” (p 34). This is an important message, as it encourages teachers to be responsive to the specific needs and interests of their current students and not apply generic strategies or lessons.

I recently read a suggestion that a leader should learn and know at least 10 things about a person. This would be a good tool for teachers to use if getting to know the individual needs and interests of their students is challenging for them. A simple notebook with a list under each student name can be filled in as a teacher gets to know new students. I know that for some students I would easily have a list of 20 facts, while there are a few that I would struggle to get 10 for! The Class Database activity (p 39) could be easily modified with questions that involve students’ needs and interests around wellness, to gather some initial data on your students. I have also used a Multiple Intelligence quiz to determine preferences for students and used them (music, nature) throughout the year to guide my plans and make my lessons or activities more inclusive, especially when some students are feeling less confident with content or skill development.

Leading up to Bell Let’s Talk day, we viewed the commercials on YouTube and worked in groups to discuss the effective use of language and its influence on attitude and acceptance. During a language activity with the book, The Man With the Violin, students recognized the sadness of the child and made similar connections from their own experiences of being rushed through their day. We went for a class walk to a nearby park with no activity planned, but to enjoy whatever we noticed. Students were excited to Tweet about their own understanding of wellness using the Bell Let’s Talk #, making suggestions that were accessible and real for them such as “write in a journal” or “talk to an adult”. They are currently making lists of what inspires them and what brightens their day. These activities and discussions continue to be integrated through subjects like language, health, art, music, and science.

Alison.Board Celebrating Success, General, Learning About Your Students

Setting Goals

 

 

Last year at this time, I introduced my class to goal setting. Although this is often done in September, I feel it is more effective in January when students have had the opportunity to received feedback in all subject areas. During our Writing Workshop, we discussed and wrote goals that were particular to student success at school. Many of the goals were vague or too broad, so we used the SMART goal process (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely). This framework really helped students create better goals that suited their individual needs. Once the goals were created, students wrote them on foam discs and we hung them around the classroom to refer to and measure against.

This January, I plan to do the same goal setting work with my 6/7 class. I have found an article on edutopia that articulates the process effectively:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/smart-goal-setting-with-students-maurice-elias

 

It shows how students are more engaged with their learning and goals when they know what they have to do and in what timeframe to achieve them. The article also provides information on goal setting for character traits, using peer review.

In The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning, an activity is provided to align students goals, strengths, and beliefs as they relate to their life in school. The activity is suggested as a first day of school activity, but it would also work well in January, when students are comfortable to share more in their established classroom community. You can find this activity on page 36.

Goal setting is a task that correlates with the idea of growth mindset. Students should be encouraged to set goals for themselves at any time in the year. By helping them create goals that are attainable, you will also help them feel success.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

Visual learners that are visually impaired?

Is there such thing as a visual learner that is visually impaired? If you came to visit my grade four music classroom you would meet her. She would tell you all about her favorite lip gloss, her new music she is learning and her favourite TV shows. Basically, you would be lucky to get a word in edgewise. But one of the greatest things about having this student this year is that she has taught me some very important skills for teaching music to students who are visually impaired.

First off, just because she is visually impaired doesn’t mean that she doesn’t want to see the music or instruments just like everyone else. She has been a committed recorder player this year and I realized quickly that verbally explaining hand position or tonguing to her caused her confusion. Instead, she became very successful when I stood directly in front of her and showed her the technique.

She also tells me if there is not enough natural light in the class. She will ask me to open the blinds or ask me if she can go and stand beside the window. I try to never stand in front of the window myself because the bright light is then behind me, which makes it difficult for her to see.

Technology has also been our friend this year. I was busy preparing music that was enlarged for her to take home when she informed me that she has technology at home to enlarge everything. She also has taken pictures of items on her tablet and increase their size to see them more clearly.

This student also has incredibly strong sense of pitch. She is easily able to play pieces on the recorder that she has heard and can sing along to songs soon after learning them. I thought that the heightened sense of pitch for visually impaired people was a myth, but after reading a few articles on the topic it seems that that is the reality. People who are visually impaired often have perfect pitch or a strong sense of pitch. My student certainly fits in that category.

Teaching this student has taught me a lot as an educator. It has confirmed some previously held beliefs, and has brought to light some new discoveries about teaching someone who is visually impaired. This has made me a better teacher for all of my students.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, General, Learning About Your Students

My dad’s name is “Bill”

Over the past couple of months, I have been working with a team of teachers and behavior specialists to help one student in my music class who is struggling with disruptive and oppositional behaviour. Through the process I have learned a couple of things. First, that the situation will not be solved overnight; it takes a lot of thought and time to implement a program in order to witness change. I have also learned that five heads are better than one when trying to instill positive behaviour plans. But ultimately, the biggest thing that I learned only happened this week….

When the student first started to have trouble within my class, my first step was to look in the student’s OSR for evidence of a Behavior Support Plan. I read the plan very closely and I decided to implement the suggestions from the plan. The plan indicated that the student should count backwards from 10 when they became upset. I tried this strategy, but I received no response from the student. The plan also suggested that the student go to a quiet spot in the room when they became upset. I asked the student to move, which they did, but they scribbled all over the floor with markers in their quiet spot. Overall, the Behavior Support Plan didn’t seem to help the student be successful.

Next, I met with the classroom teacher. As a planning time teacher, mirroring the language and behavior management system of their regular classroom can be very effective. It requires a lot of flexibility of the planning time teacher but when situations arise that need intervention, this can be a great place to start. Unfortunately, the classroom teacher was dealing with many of the same behaviors that I was and did not have much advice for me.

Then, I met with my colleague to brainstorm some ideas to help the student in my class. My colleague and I came up with a tracking system to try and figure out if there were some triggers that led to some of the student’s behavior. I went up during the lunch break and just observed the student about 10-15 minutes before they came to me every time I taught them and continued to observe them in my class. Observing them in different settings was incredibly helpful. I could see what happened directly before they came to me. The student struggles greatly with recess and comes inside regularly with issues that have happened outside. I also witnessed the ongoing, major conflict that exists between my student and another student called “Bill” in the classroom.

I know what I need to do now in order to help the student. I need to help them transition from the playground to the classroom to help them in music. I have started going up a few minutes early for this period and touching base with the student before they come to see me. I tell them something positive and initiate a conversation about their life. These three minutes twice a week have really made a difference.

Until this week, the one issue I still didn’t fully understand was why this student hated “Bill” so much. The student never wanted to sit near “Bill”, would never work with them and the mere presence of “Bill” annoyed them. Through one of conversations this week things became a little clearer when the student told me that their father’s name was “Bill”.

Taking the time to listen and get to know our students can really make a difference in building a relationship and thus helping us to manage their behaviour.